Historic building in Chelsea, London
The Duke of York's Headquarters is a building in Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , England. In 1969 it was declared a listed building at Grade II*, due to its outstanding historic or architectural special interest.[ 1]
History
Chapel to Duke of York's Headquarters , 2013
The building was completed in 1801 to the designs of John Sanders , who also designed the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst .[ 1] It was originally called the Royal Military Asylum and was a school for the children of soldiers' widows.[ 2] In 1892 it was renamed the Duke of York's Royal Military School . In 1909, the school moved to new premises in Dover , and the Asylum building was taken over by the Territorial Army and renamed the Duke of York's Barracks in 1911.[ 3] During the First World War it was the headquarters of the 18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles) [ 4] and of the Middlesex Yeomanry .[ 5]
During the Second World War , the courts martial of German spies, Josef Jakobs and Theodore Schurch , (both tried under the Treachery Act 1940 ) were both conducted in the building.[ 3]
On 20 September 1973 a Provisional IRA bomb exploded at the barracks injuring five people, three civilians and two soldiers, at which time it was the headquarters of the 14th Parachute Brigade (TA).[ 6]
In 1980 the building was extensively restored and renovated, with the £1.5 million programme being carried out by Donald Insall Associates . At that time the building served as the Headquarters for the Territorial Army in Greater London , and as the home of Territorial units 144 Parachute Field Ambulance RAMC(V), 257 (Southern) General Hospital RAMC, 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) , and companies of 10th Battalion, Parachute Regiment and the London Irish Rifles . In addition, it served as the headquarters of the Royal Corps of Signals and First Aid Nursing Yeomanry , and as the home of the Coldstream Guards Band , and a Light Aid Detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It also housed the offices of the RAF Escaping Society , the Army Historical Association, the Army Benevolent Fund , and the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen's Families Association .[ 7]
On 16 March 1992, Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims , the first collection by British designer Alexander McQueen , was produced at the Duke of York's Barracks, as the thesis collection for his master's degree in fashion at Central Saint Martins (CSM) art school.[ 8]
The site was sold to Cadogan Estates by the Ministry of Defence , with initial proceeds of £66 million received in 2000 and a further £28 million when the site was vacated in 2003.[ 9] Cadogan has redeveloped the site with Paul Davis and Partners as Duke of York Square.[ 10] The development includes a public square, upmarket housing and retail outlets, and part of it has been let as new premises for the Saatchi Gallery , which relocated there in 2008.[ 11]
Hill House School , a prep school based in and around the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , uses the field of the Barracks for regular 'games' (sports and activities practices) and for their annual end-of-year 'field day'.[ 12] Garden House , another prep school based in the Royal Borough, occupies the Cavalry House,[ 13] part of the Duke of York's Headquarters on Turks Row,[ 14] which became a grade II listed building in July 1998.[ 15]
References
^ a b Historic England . "Duke of York's Headquarters (Territorial Army), Kensington and Chelsea (1266717)" . National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 19 March 2023 .
^ Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1991). London 3: North West . London: Penguin Books. p. 565. ISBN 0-14-071048-5 .
^ a b "Court Martial of Josef Jakobs held at Duke of York Headquarters, Chelsea" . josefjakobs.info . 14 March 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2017 .
^ "The London Regiment" . The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 27 May 2014 .
^ "1st County of London Yeomanry (Middlesex, Duke of Cambridge's Hussars) at regiments.org by T.F.Mills" . Archived from the original on 15 July 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2017 .{{cite web }}
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^ "5 Injured in London as Bomb Goes off in Army Barracks" . The New York Times . 21 September 1973.
^ Long, Christopher (1980). "Like Lifting The Lid Off a Beehive" . christopherlong.co.uk . Retrieved 12 January 2017 .
^ "Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims five-piece pattern for pointed front ribboned collar 1992 Graduate Collection" . RR Auction . Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023 .
^ "Marching To A New Future – Duke of York's Headquarters" (PDF) . Defence Estates . 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2007.
^ "Duke of York Square: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea" . Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment . Archived from the original on 25 November 2010.
^ "Saatchi gallery moves to new home" . The Guardian . 2 September 2008. Retrieved 27 October 2019 .
^ "£14,000-a-year school attended by Prince Charles branded inadequate by Ofsted" . Evening Standard . 11 March 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2019 .
^ "Garden House School – planning application" (PDF) . Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . 10 June 2004.
^ "Garden House School" . Building Images.co.uk .
^ "Cavalry House, Duke of York's Headquarters, Kensington and Chelsea" . British Listed Buildings . Retrieved 12 January 2017 .